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Do you spread your fire to multiple units or concentrate on taking one squad out of the fight?

22 Comments

I like the idea of hitting the magic pin number then switching to the next target, so you can lock down where the opponent is having to go to get to the objective; also if you have the objective that you are defending covered with effective fire, it makes it harder for it to be seized.

We’ve really started getting into BA recently at my weekend gaming group- personally I prefer to concentrate fire and wipe Units out rather than pin them to ineffectiveness simply because it guarantees one less enemy Die in the bag!

Having watched this video though I think I may well try to spread my fire a bit more in the next game and see how that works for me- I play Soviets and have been using small squads of Regulars with several big units of Inexperienced guys, but I wonder if I could switch this and split my conscripts down into smaller units purely for inflicting Pins and have fewer, larger units of Regulars to do the killing?

One thing we have noticed is the sheer havoc a well-targeted Artillery Barrage can have- even if it doesn’t kill much it can leave large chunks of your army locked down and out of the game!

Personally, I like 8 man squads (and at least 4 squads in a 1000pts game) as they have enough men to weather attacks and kick out pretty good firepower while not being so loaded with numbers that become pinned stop me. I think with 5 man squads it only take two good attacks then only be 2 to 3 men left plus two pins which makes it fairly unlikely they will even hit a target should they even get an action. Plus, all those squads can be vulnerable to area of effect attacks like Forward Observers.

I like to force my opponent to make Morale Tests of 5 or 6 since this is the bad side of the 2d6 bell curve. However, I worry more about what the enemy squad can do more than trying to get that magical 5 under Morale Test.

Leave the lmgs out of your german vet squads, you get 4 shots from one gunner and 0 from the loader for 20pts which a sniper can take out. Instead give those two men an assault rifle each for a total of 10pts. You still get four shoots but with a slight range reduction and they get the assault rule to boot! If your going to put german vets in transports make them pioneers give them smgs (dont give vets in transports assault rifles give them smgs) and add a flamethrower to the squad for taste! If you like your enemies well done add another flamethrower team in the same transport as the pioneers and watch your opponent weep as you poor a bucket of smgs shoots with 2/3D6 flamethrower hits amongst his poor men!

Now this is a really cool show, which is “saying something” because . . . to be honest, I don’t really get that into Bolt Action. But I really like how John and Justin are really getting into the INFANTRY rules for this game.

One of the first things I noticed was when @johnlyons explained how his halftrack infantry has extra orders largely BECAUSE they’re in halftracks. This is actually great, and it’s rules like this that might actually turn me around on BA. I mean, not only are halftracks powerful combat units on their own right (armored, at least a little, with probably 2-3 MGs mounted on them), but putting more orders in the bag MAKES the infantry more mobile. Not just in movement inches, but in tactical flexibility via the order. Really elegant rules, actually.

Watch out, guys. @johnlyons and @dignity might be giving FOW FTW a run for their money with these Bolt Action episodes.

13:36 . . . Uh, I don’t really know much about the RULES for Bolt Action, so I would definitely defer to posters above like @orinoco . Historically, Universal Carriers usually carried an actual Bren Gun (hence “Bren Carriers”), which I **guess** would be an LMG in Bolt Action?

Allied MMGs would be basically the same caliber (roughly .308, .30, or .30-06), but weapons like the American M1919 is usually classified as an MMG in most games because it fires a BELT of practically limitless ammo, as opposed to a 20-round box like the Bren.

I have run across some references of the Boys AT rifle, but this was generally discontinued after 1941. Later war variants allowed the Bren to be replaced with or (supplemented by) a PIAT, but I don’t know if this is allowed in Bolt Action.

Some variants even allowed a 2-pounder antitank gun (40mm) or, more practically, a 2-inch infantry support mortar.

There was an American / Canadian version, which you THINK would be mounted with a .30 cal M1919 MMG . . . but from what I’ve heard it was usually used as an artillery tractor.

I do know the Germans used captured Bren carriers, on which they often mounted an MG-15, MG-34, or MG-42, which I guess would classify as an MMG. They also mounted them with Panzerschrecks (Panzerjäger Bren 731(e)) . . .almost turning it into a light tank destroyer.

Not just a single 2pdr AT gun, try 6! Trials were apparently carried out in ’42 or so to mount 6 preloaded 2pdr gun barrels onto carriers, which would then drive into the middle, or around the flanks, of enemy armoured formations shooting them off, recoil was absorbed by allowing the gun to slide right off its mount onto the floor. I guess there were enough guns lying around in depots, but I wouldn’t like to have been one of the carrier crew in that instance. Luckily, sense prevailed and they never saw action.

Wow, really? After I posted I started poking around the web and ran across a German 3.7cm variant (I guess a PaK36) which sounded crazy enough. A 6-pounder is a 57mm if memory serves, which is just nuts.

Last year I went to Normandy for the 70th Anniversary, and someone had a RUNNING universal carrier in the parking lot of the Vierville Museum just above Dog One exit. Never actually saw one before, and I was amazed at just how SMALL those things were. I can’t imagine someone mounting a 6-pounder on it.

Not surprised, though. In 42-43, the British were putting 6-pounders into the Crusader III cruiser tank in North Africa (formerly the Crusader II was armed with the 2-pounder 40mm). To do so, however, they had to get rid of one of the turret crew (?!?!) So whatever gain they might have realized with the bigger gun . . . they lost by sacrificing either their gunner or their loader, and making their commander fulfill the missing role instead of commanding the tank. A big step backwards for the sake of 6-pounder.